Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Disarmament Story, part 3: Luo's Lament ( Chapter 18 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer:
This fic uses characters, places, themes from franchises that are the property of others. I do not own these franchises.

Special Thanks to:
Charles Xavier, Fanfiction.net author: For writing an awesome crossover with anime and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Suikosource website: for providing great information that made this fic possible.

The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny
By: RB3

Disarmament Story, part 3: Luo's Lament

Somewhere in the vast reaches of space was a planet known as Sentinel III. This world was populated by human life, their cities covering nearly every inch of the planet. Sentinel III was a part of the world known as the "Outlaw Frontier." This vast void of space was an unruly, untamed world where crime was rampant, much like in Bebop world. There are large pirate gangs, like the Kei pirates, who take certain areas as territory and operate from there, robbing any stray ships. Humanity was well entrenched in space and has interacted with several alien races.

One of the businessmen of this world of infinite opportunities was Fred Luo. A young man in his early twenties, Luo had already amassed a corporate empire that dealt with millions of Wong of business every day. Luo approached his office, a sterile metal room with models of weapons on display in cases. As he passed by the door, he nodded to his bodyguards knowingly. He sat on his chair and blew a tuft of black hair away from his face. It was another boring day at the office of filling paperwork and attending board meetings. Luo slumped in his chair and breathed out in exasperation.

One of Luo's associates entered the room. "Mr. Luo, check this out. Someone has been purchasing several shares in Luo Industries this past week."

Luo looked over the records of the share purchases. "Penhold Holdings is buying shares in my company?"

"Yeah, they're negotiating with current shareholders to acquire their shares as well," reported the associate.

"Keep me informed," ordered Luo. "If they keep buying shares at this rate, I could be facing a takeover attempt."

However, five months passed and the situation grew worse, despite Luo's attempts to preserve the integrity of his business. In the end, only two parties controlled Luo Industries, Fred Luo himself, and Penhold Holdings. Luo had successfully secured 60% of his business, more than enough to guarantee his control over Luo Industries. However, Penhold was not going to quit. They had started to make several lucrative offers to purchase his business. Luo opened the envelope with the latest offer, a billion Wong to buy out his business.

Luo, now exasperated with Penhold's antics, crumpled the paper and threw it into the garbage. He looked at an old picture of himself as a boy, staring proudly at the camera with the rest of his family. The next day, Luo received another letter, but it was different from the others. This one was much harsher in tone. "Why are you being so stubborn? You should have sold out when you had the chance. It would be a shame if something were to happen to you or your business."

Luo could easily tell by the tone and content that it was a threat. It was signed by "a friend" and written using a computer printer commonly available in any store. Nevertheless, Luo could not give in to the enemy. Luo Industries had more value than its material worth. It was a memento to him, a reminder of his late father. Luo couldn't bring himself to give up something his father had worked so hard to build. Suspecting Penhold's responsibility for the threat, Luo feared for what would happen should he lose his company. He vowed to stand firm, defiantly tearing up the letter and throwing it into a waste basket.

A bit later, a vortex of energy opened in the space above Sentinel III. The streak immediately faded once it came to a stop, revealing itself as the Blue Typhoon. After orbiting Sentinel III, a shuttle launched from its hangar. When this shuttle landed Ross emerged from within, leading a team of investigators to investigate Penhold Holdings, named as an asset in the arms running ring. With them was a group commanded by Koichi, who were to provide the firepower needed to crush any Omnipotence agents that dared to disturb their investigation.

Their first stop was the head offices of Luo Industries, one of the companies on Penhold's buyout hit list. The team took a bus to the entrance of a posh office building at the heart of the city's commercial district. Like all the other buildings, it was a giant tower of metal and glass. Ross flashed a badge to the security guards, who gave them access to the President's suite. After a brief trip on the elevator, the team found several security guards lying on the ground in their blood. Many of the guards had been injured and a few were even dead. Ross grabbed a radio and called for security.

"Miho, Filia, Yoh, secure the area until the guards come," ordered Ross. "I'm going on ahead to check up on Luo with the others. I have a very bad feeling about this."

"Okay," replied Miho.

"Got it," replied Filia.

"Of course," replied Yoh.

Ross led the others to Fred Luo's office, where a confrontation was taking place. Luo was backed into a wall, visibly freaked out and surrounded by a trio of hostile black creatures. The first two looked like some kind of devil in leather garb. Their eyes were red and their elongated arms ended in claws coated with blood. Their wings were torn, but still had the power to propel the creatures forward. The third creature was a small black cat that stood on its hind legs. It had large claws covered by open-finger fur gloves. The cat hissed at Luo menacingly.

Just when these monsters were about to attack, Valiance stormed the room. Duskmon moved in with preternatural speed, slicing one of the devils, a Devimon, in the back before he even knew what had happened. Ross and Naomi rolled into the room and fired shots into the chest of the second Devimon. Sakura summoned the Wood card, causing several vines to grow out of nearby potted plants and latch on to the paws of the cat, a Black Gatomon. Yolei, Halsemon, Madison, and Ryo quickly entered the room unnoticed during the commotion and formed a line around Luo.

As their comrades fought off the attackers, the four made sure no one attempted to harm Luo. "Are you okay?" asked Ryo.

"I'm fine," replied Luo, as the four moved him out of the room to safety.

By the time security reached the area, Ross' team had already secured the area and Luo for them. "Mr. Luo, I'm Detective Ross Syllabus of the MPD and Valiance. We came here to ask you about Penhold Holdings."

"Penhold Holdings? Why them?" asked Luo.

"Well, we have reason to believe Penhold is involved with illegal arms running and sponsoring terrorism. Can you tell me anything?" asked Ross.

"They wanted to buy me out. When I refused, they sent those 'things,' as you can see," replied Luo, referring to the Digimon sent to assassinate him by Penhold.

At that moment, Ross got a call from Tails. "Ross, we have a problem here."

In the background, Ross could hear what sounded like rushing water, hissing, and several people yelling. "What's the matter?"

"I have bad news. Someone sent a cloaked ship to attack the Blue Typhoon. We tried to shoot it down but then it went on a collision course with our ship. It knocked out our hyperspace and dimensional travel capability."

"Is everyone okay? How long before you can get repairs done?" asked Ross.

"No one was seriously hurt but there's a big fire here. We're still trying to put it out. Once we get this under control, it will take us at least four days to get everything cleaned up here," replied Tails.

"Four days? We don't have that time to spare!," complained Ross.

"Yeah I know, but that's the earliest I can get everything done. You'll have to find another ship to investigate Penhold while we get things cleaned up here."

"Okay Tails, we'll figure something out," said Ross before turning to his friends. "Sorry guys, bad news. Someone just hit the Blue Typhoon and now we're stuck here. No one was hurt, thank God."

"Hmm, the timing of this attack..." muttered Amon. "This couldn't be an accident."

"Yeah, seems we're definitely getting close," remarked Naomi. "If there's any time we need push hard, it's now."

"If you're going to go after Penhold, I can give you a lead," offered Luo. "I had my men look into Penhold. Apparently, the board of directors were quite spooked about something. They were so afraid that they went into hiding. After seeing you guys, I finally understand why."

"Is this going anywhere?" asked Naomi.

"I was getting to that. As I was saying, Penhold's brass went into hiding. I had my men look into this and guess what? I managed to find out where three of them had scurried off to!" announced Luo proudly, who then proceeded to describe the locations of the three board members.

The first was Geraldine Banks, a name that was already familiar to Ross. She had been named by Vicontiel Dunner as a key figure in the arms running ring. She was the head of Penhold's accounting department. She was hiding in one of her private mansions in the northern parts of the planet Heifong 7. The second was Avery Price, the vice president of the company. He took refuge in his sea-side vacation home on Tenrei, a planet of hot springs and water parks. The last person was Samuel Stockman, the president of Penhold Holdings. He had fled to the Blue Heaven colony, which was constructed within a massive asteroid.

"Now, I know what you're thinking... How are we going to get to those places without a ship? Well, Fred Luo to the rescue once again! I know a certain someone who can take care of that. He can solve any problem, for the right price. He and I go back a long way. You can say we're more than just friends. He has a very fast ship that can take you there in no time. His name is..."

---

"...Gene Starwind," said Ross.

Ross and his allies stood in front of a brick and mortar building. It was a plain building, quite drab in appearance and utilitarian in design. After how Luo described his friend Gene Starwind, Ross' group had expected something a bit grander. The grey structure was not very large as far as buildings were concerned. It had a more cozy appearance, like the business was owned by a simple family. It was marked with the words "Starwind and Hawking Enterprises" in jagged red and yellow letters that seemed as though a bolt of lightning had passed through it.

"Are you sure we are in the right place?" asked Naomi.

"Yep, this has to be it. It says 'Starwind and Hawking Enterprises' right there," replied Ross. "Well, let's go in and check the place out."

While the others waited outside, Ross and Naomi came face to face with the lobby of the building. As suspected, it was merely a small two floor building with the main floor for business purposes. The smaller second floor had a loft as a living area for the owners. The main floor had a desk with a computer on which a young blond boy was working. The boy was poring over some financial documents. There was a seating area off to the right side for clients to discuss their transactions with the proprietors. One of the proprietors, a young, red-headed man, was seated in the seats.

When Ross and Naomi sent foot inside, the door chimes alerted the red-headed man. "Hello, welcome to Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. I'm Gene Starwind and this is my associate, Jim Hawking. How may we help you?"

"I heard you have a very fast ship," began Naomi.

"That's right! It's called the Outlaw Star. It's a beauty; the fastest, most advanced ship in the galaxy," boasted Gene.

"Really?" asked Ross incredulously. "In that case, it can help us get our job done quickly and be home in time for dinner."

"So, I take it that you need my ship for your job?" asked Gene.

"That's right. My name is Ross Syllabus, Detective Ross Syllabus of the MPD and of Valiance." Ross flashed a badge to indicate his authority while Naomi did the same and introduced herself.

"Detective? I'm surprised that you don't have you own ship," remarked Gene.

"Yeah, that's a long story," replied Ross. "We need to detain three individuals for questioning about illegal arms running and sponsoring terrorism. This might be a dangerous mission as you might suspect. Our group is 12 people and two animals. We also need to leave immediately. How much would such a job cost and how long would it take to get to each planet?"

"Hmm, we'd need to know where you're going first," replied Gene. Ross repeated the three locations given to him by Fred Luo. "Sure, let me consult my business partner for a moment." Gene broke away and spoke to Jim, who made some calculations. "Okay, to get to Heifong takes a day and then another two to get to Blue Heaven. Tenrei is bit more out of the way, so we need three days to get there from Blue Heaven. For this job, our fee comes out to 100,000 Wong which includes the cost of fuel, supplies, and docking fees."

Ross provided information on Valiance's accounts. "Please bill your fee to our sponsors. So, how soon can we leave?" asked Ross.

"We can leave in about an hour and a half. Please get ready by then," said Gene.

As the agents of Valiance made preparations for their trip, the other crew members of the Outlaw Star came back to the Starwind and Hawking Enterprises building. The first was a beautiful teenaged girl with shoulder-length black hair and a shy smile. The second was also black-haired, but taller, slender, and a bit older being her early twenties. She wore a kimono and radiated an aura of cool confidence. The last woman absolutely radiated personal pride and confidence. She had a tanned complexion, yellowish-white hair, an athletic build, and many cat-like features such as elongated ears. Gene introduced the three as Melfina, Suzuka, and Aisha respectively.

The group made their way to a large red ship housed in a space port. The ship, the Outlaw Star, was fairly slender with a missile-like design to its body. It had four regular thrusters and a spiked drill bit which allowed for faster-than-light travel. As the Valiance heroes waited in the passenger's area, the crew made their launch preparations. Melfina descended down a hatch into a chamber with a turquoise liquid. It rose up such that an image of her naked self was visible within the glass. The Outlaw Star fired its engines and made escape velocity without incident.

Upon entering sub-ether travel, Gene gave command of the ship to Melfina and went to the back to mingle. "Whoa, time to pick up that cute chick!" remarked Gene upon spying Filia. Jim sighed and shook his head.

As Filia walked by, her golden dragon tail popped out from under her dress. Gene was slack-jawed in shock as this event. Out of curiosity, he felt up Filia's tail to see if it was real, which turned out to be a very unwise move. As quick as lightning, Filia drew a mace from under her skirt and clocked Gene across the head. "Gene! Are you okay?" cried Jim as he went to check on him.

"Hmmmph! You pervert!" sneered Filia.

"What the hell are you?" asked Gene.

At that moment, Yolei and Hawkmon came on the scene. Yolei sighed once she realized what had happened. "You peaked under her skirt didn't you?"

"No, he grabbed her tail," said Jim.

"Yeah, I was wondering if it was real," said Gene in his defence.

"Well, if you must know, it's real alright!" said Filia, arms crossed and facing away indignantly.

"What kind of girl has a tail growing out of her?"

"A girl who is a golden dragon," replied Yolei.

"Just great, the one time I get a pretty girl on my ship, she turns out to be a lizard in a girl's skin," muttered Gene while leaving in embarrassment. "Ow," he muttered as he winced and rubbed his head.

The Outlaw Star landed on Heifong 7, the hiding spot of Geraldine Banks. While the crew stayed behind to tend to the ship, the Valiance agents made their way to a luxurious private mansion in the cold northern regions of the planet. Snow was falling from the sky and had formed a blanket of white on the ground. Even from the outside, the mansion seemed warm and cozy, especially when compared to the freezing outdoors. The agents surrounded the mansion at key points while Ross and Naomi approached the front gate.

"Who is it?" asked the voice of a male servant over a wall-mounted communications device.

"This is Detective Ross Syllabus and Naomi Armitage of the MPD. We are here to detain Geraldine Banks for questioning. We were told she lives here."

"I'm sorry, but there is no one by that name around here. Please be on your way," said the servant.

"We are not leaving until we meet her!" declared Naomi.

Ross and Naomi returned to their car. After a few minutes, they received a call from Kero. "Hey Ross, I just saw that woman enter a limo in the back. The limo just pulling up to a gate."

"Damn!" cursed Naomi before activating her radio. "Stop that limo!"

Just as Banks' limo passed through the gate, the Cardcaptors, Velgamon, and Yolei mounted on Halsemon gave pursuit. The great shadow of Velgamon spooked Geraldine, who ordered her driver to speed up. However, Velgamon was prepared for that move. He spotted a bridge running over a ravine in the distance. He accelerated to top speed and landed at the other end before transforming back to Duskmon. He blocked the middle of the road and waited for the limo to come to him. The driver spotted Duskmon waiting up ahead, and skid to a stop on the bridge.

The icy ground of the bridge made the driver overshoot his mark, causing the limo to crash into a concrete retaining wall. The wall ruptured and the limo came dangerously close to teetering over. "Oh my God, oh my God!" repeated Geraldine, terrified out of her mind.

Sakura and Madison landed behind the limo and called up the power of the Strength card. With the superhuman strength of a superhero, the two yanked the car safely onto the road. When they opened the door to get to Geraldine, she was a shell of herself. The experience of being chased by supernatural entities like Velgamon and nearly going over a bridge traumatized her to no end. She was reduced her to a shell of herself, curled up in a ball and shuddering uncontrollably. She put up no effort to resist as Ross handcuffed her and placed her in his car.

After taking anything else that may be used as evidence, they secured her within the Outlaw Star, keeping her tied up in ropes. The Outlaw Star sped to its next target, Blue Heaven, where Samuel Stockman, the president of Penhold, was hiding. The Outlaw Star approached a massive asteroid almost as big as the Earth's moon. Even outside, the crew could make out metallic structures and antennas scattered around the surface of the rock. The Outlaw Star travelled through a massive metal door as it pulled into a similarly massive docking bay, where Valiance disembarked.

The heroes of Valiance made their way to Stockman's mansion, a great home not unlike the one Geraldine Banks lived in. It consisted of a spacious lawn of grass sustained by artificial sunlight. Ross and Naomi approached the front gate and demanded to see Samuel Stockman. Rather than receive a reply, they got gunfire from the second story window instead. One of the bullets struck Ross' artificial arm just before he made it to cover behind his vehicle. Naomi, being the quicker of the two, had already begun to return fire from behind cover.

"Are you okay?" asked Naomi.

"I'll be fine. It hit my cybernetic arm," replied Ross. His arm was sparking from the circuitry damaged by the bullet. Ross pulled out a gun and fired a shot at the sniper in the mansion's window. "Hey guys, we could use some help here! See if you can get into the mansion from the back door."

The other members of Valiance converged on the mansion, which clearly contained very hostile individuals. As Yoh leapt over the fence, a second sniper in a second story window opened fire on him. Through the powers of the shaman, Yoh shield himself with a spectral samurai's armour. When the sniper's fire died down, he made a Celestial Slash straight at the window, cutting the gunman down. Behind him was Ryo, who cut down a guard dog with his wooden sword. Ryo joined Yoh in entering the side door of the mansion.

Inside, they were attacked by one of the mansion's maids, who suddenly breathed fire from her mouth! The two shamans raised their defences to weather this supernatural onslaught. When the maid ran out of breath, Ryo sent forth a shockwave of ghostly white flame which incinerated the maid. As the two searched through the house, they ran into Yolei and Madison. "He's running for his limo! Get to the back!" cried Madison.

The shaman followed the girls on their way to Stockman's limo, which just started its engine. Yolei flung a hail of bullet-like seeds into the car's rear left tire, rendering it flat and useless. The limo started to move, but did so erratically since it lacked the traction of one of its tires. The driver struggled to keep his handicapped vehicle on the road as he moved towards the gate. In a gesture of Sakura's hand, the Sand card appeared in mystical white light. The ground before the limo turned to parched sand which swallowed the limo's tires. The Valiance agents surrounded the limo and took Stockman and anything else of importance into custody.

Upon returning to space, Aisha Clanclan checked out the prisoners, who were tied up in ropes and kept in a vacant cargo hold. "Looks like someone's been naughty!" she teased. Aisha turned to the guard, Ryo. "So you got stuck with guard duty huh?"

"Oh yeah, but it's not so boring now I've got such a beautiful girl to keep me company," said Ryo, giving Aisha his most charming smile.

"Beautiful girl? That's right! Ctarl-ctarl women are the most beautiful women in the galaxy and don't you forget it!" said Aisha, showing off her good looks to make her point clearer. "It's only natural that any man would be captivated by a Ctarl-ctarl goddess." Aisha posed with a smile and winked at Ryo.

"My shift ends at six, so why don't you join me then in the kitchen?"

"Sounds good, but why don't you let me make dinner? I'm a great cook!" replied Aisha.

"Mmm, I look forward to it," said Ryo.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded within the halls of the Outlaw Star. A pellet-like device with a face on it rolled into the room on overhead rails. "Aisha, please come to the bridge immediately," said the device, the Outlaw Star's AI controller, Gilliam II.

Aisha returned to her console on the bridge, where the Outlaw Star had detected three unknown ships within its path. "What's going on?" asked Naomi as she went to check.

"We've got company; three hostile ships approaching us," reported Gene.

Without answering any hails, the ships armed their weapons in indication of hostile intent. The three ships were grappler ships, which had long mechanical arms designed for manipulation of objects. In their case, these arms were also for close-quarters combat. The Outlaws Star released camera pods as Gene readied an eyepiece for better visualization of the battlefield. One of the ships raced in with machineguns blazing. The bullets ping-ponged off the chassis of the most advanced ship in the galaxy, merely scratching the paint of the ship.

"Missiles coming in from both flanks!" reported Jim.

"Launch decoys!" ordered Gene.

Several small glowing pods burst out of bays everywhere around the Outlaw Star. The missiles immediately veered to strike these dummy targets, leaving their main target unharmed. One of the ships closed on the Outlaw Star, causing to the two to enter into a grapple. The contest of strength went back and forth with the enemy gaining the advantage before the Outlaw crew swung it back in their favour. However, in being drawn into close-quarters battle, the other two were able to lock missiles and send them on the Outlaw Star's open flanks.

"More missiles incoming from the flanks!" cried Jim.

"Release more decoys!" ordered Gene.

Suzuka typed in some commands and like before, the Outlaw Star released pods to lure the missiles away. However, they weren't as effective this time. "They aren't working! The missiles are getting through!" cried Jim. The Outlaw Star trembled as the missiles impacted its chassis. "The other ships are doubling back for another run!"

At this moment, the enemy grappler began to swing the advantage back in its favour. "I'm trying to break free, but this guy's keeping me pinned down!"

"Oh no, they're launching missiles!" reported Jim. "They will impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

Suddenly, a great shell of faint azure light surrounded the Outlaw Star. The missiles impacted this sphere instead, leaving the Outlaw Star unharmed. "Huh?" asked Gene.

"What just happened?" asked Suzuka, seeing that everyone was still alive.

"Whatever it is, we're back in the game!" cheered Gene, who began pushed back against his adversary in the grapple.

The advantage he gained was so great that he snapped off the enemy ship's arms. Gene latched his grappler arms around the enemy ship and tore a hole into it, effectively ripping the ship in half. With the momentum swinging back to the Outlaw Star, it launched dozens of missiles into the second of the enemy ships. The missiles impacted all along the chassis, going down the length of the ship until it struck the engines and triggered an explosion. The Outlaw Star continued its rampage with a beeline straight at the final ship with guns blazing. Despite the ship's attempt to flee, the Outlaw Star shot off one of its engines, causing the power core to short-circuit and explode.

"Hi Gene, is everything okay over there?" asked Sakura over the radio. "We were getting worried so we created a shield to protect the ship. I hope we didn't scare you..."

"No, you did us a great favour actually," said Gene.

"Great! You're welcome!" said Sakura before terminating the line.

The Outlaw Star touched on top of a landing pad on Tenrei with a puff of smoke. The planet Tenrei was a lush, temperate world rich in water, vegetation, and animal life. However, it was also a world full of hot springs, which people can soak in to relax and recover from stress and pain. They were originally discovered by a group of Tao priests who were also the creators of the bullets for Gene's special weapon, the Caster gun. Since then, Tenrei has been a vacation spot for tourists everywhere in the galaxy. Every race from human to Silgrian and Ctarl-Ctarl visit here for vacations.

However, this visit was not a vacation for the heroes of Valiance. Tenrei was the hideout of a man who was helping a terrorist organization commit atrocities throughout the anime worlds and possibly beyond. This man was named Avery Price and he was the vice president of Penhold Holdings, a company implicated in the arms running ring through Vicontiel Dunner's testimony. With the recent wave of attacks upon the Blue Typhoon and the Outlaw Star, it seemed that Omnipotence was growing desperate to prevent Valiance from knocking out a critical part of its infrastructure.

The heroes of Valiance came up to a mansion much like the others. No sooner than they approached the abode than a beam of energy came straight for Ross' car. In an instance of quick thinking, Robin ignited a burst of flame which stopped the beam completely. The occupants of Ross' car threw the doors open and scattered to divert enemy fire. Ross fired several shots as he made a beeline to cover behind a rock. His aim was focused on an attacker perched in a tree within the front lawn of the mansion. Ross scored two shots, one to the lower left ribs and the other above the thug's right pectoral muscles.

The thug fell off the tree, out of sight behind the wall. However, the man rose up again as he transformed into a terrifying monster. The brown, nearly black, creature was roughly humanoid in figure, top heavy with massive, muscular arms and torso. The towering creature had a pair of horns protruding from its shoulders and head, and a toothy maw. It let out a blood curdling roar and smashed through the wall to get to Ross. The cybernetic detective emptied a clip onto the creature with no effect whatsoever. Before it could reach his rock, Ross dove out of the way and ran for dear life. Amon hurled a tree into it, buying Ross enough time to escape and regroup.

More thugs in black poured out of the mansion to defend it from Valiance attack. Filia came face to face with a horde of thugs who fired bullets on her relentlessly. However, her barrier of golden magical energy rendered their weapons useless. Once the enemy wasted all of their ammunition, they suddenly bared fangs and hissed at her. Their eyes glowed with crimson light and were filled with supernatural malice. While her barrier held, Filia chanted a prayer to her god, the Fire Dragon King. A divine power spread over the land like a golden light. The vampires burst into flames of brilliant gold as the Fire Dragon King unleashed his wrath upon these foul creatures. The vampires ran around mindlessly, screaming in terror as the flames continued to burn them down to the depths of their souls.

The creature continued its assault on Ross as well as his wife and the witch hunters. The group sent everything they could muster but they couldn't put the creature down. Robin ignited the beast in the most intense flame she could muster. The monster screamed in agony, but was still far from being ready to concede defeat. In anger, it fired an energy beam at Robin, which she blocked by igniting a wall of flame in its path. The creature noticed Naomi shooting at it and proceeded to rip a tree from the ground and hurl it at her. In the nick of time, she rolled out of the way as the tree crashed into the ground. Miho continued to fire her handgun, reloading at regular intervals, but all her shots did was to lodge bullets in the beast without doing anything major damage.

The beast noticed Miho and threw a punch at her, but she leapt away with a boost from Amon's telekinesis. The beast's fist smashed through a street pole and put a hole into the wall behind. The electrical lines tumbled onto the ground with deadly amounts of electricity arcing out threateningly. Seeing an opportunity, Amon telekinetically whipped the exposed wires into the beast, stunning it as electricity surged through its body. Robin ignited the creature once again to exploit its weakened state. Ross, Naomi, and Miho surrounded the beast and unloaded ammunition into it until it collapsed out of exhaustion.

Suddenly, the mansion collapsed onto the ground and a second creature burst out of its ruins. Unlike the one toppled before, this one resembled a turquoise eyeball. It had countless tentacles on its bottom which acted as prehensile limbs. The tentacles had suction cups for gripping and grabbing things. Behind the mass of tentacles was a large toothy maw which the creature used for devouring its prey. Also emerging from the ruins were Yolei, Silphymon, and Pazuzumon, fleeing from the monster. Yoh and Ryo leapt out of harms way and regrouped with the rest of the Valiance team for a concentrated attack.

"Watch out! That thing's strong!" warned Ryo.

"That eye thingy is Avery Price. He turned into some kind of monster and attacked us!" cried Yolei.

The rest of the Valiance agents regrouped with their allies after defeating Price's thugs. The eye turned its gaze at the group and fired a searing beam of energy. They scattered in random directions moments before the beam hit the ground and triggered a fiery explosion. Suddenly, Ryo, Yoh, and Robin found themselves being dragged towards the creature through an invisible force. From the sky, Pazuzumon gestured to the creature. A mass of black miasma oozed out of the ground, forming a tar-like patch which entrapped the monster. In addition to slowing the creature, it also shut down its telekinetic powers and freed Ryo, Yoh, Robin.

With the creature rendered vulnerable, Silphymon swooped in and fired a blast of energy. The creature growled in pain and lashed out a tentacle which wrapped around Silphymon's body. The half-man, half-bird Digimon channelled energy into his hands as he grasped the tentacle. Once again, the creature roared in pain and instinctively reared back and released its prey. Miho, Ross, and Naomi continued to pelt the creature with bullets. Even Robin and Amon, using their Craft to incinerate and throw random objects respectively, couldn't keep the creature from continuing its attack.

Down below, Yoh and Ryo, empowered by Filia's prayers, charged at the creature. The creature noticed them approaching and lashed out with its tentacles. However, Filia's prayers caused a barrier to shield the shaman, warding those appendages away without harm to them. The shaman slashed at the creature's body, managing to sever five of its tentacles in total. However, they grew back almost as quickly as they were cut like the heads of a hydra. Yoh and Ryo attempted to manoeuvre behind the creature, who anticipated this course of action and lashed out with its new tentacles, sending the two to the ground.

Madison and Sakura and helped the two shaman get back on their feet. "I'm fine," said Yoh.

"If only we could get onto the creature's back," lamented Amidamaru. "We could do a lot of damage then."

"On his back..." said Sakura, trailing off in thought. "Yolei, I have an idea. Let's keep that thing busy for Yoh."

"Okay, got it covered," replied Yolei.

Yolei invoked the power of the Digiegg of Sincerity and its influence over nature. Vines began to sprout from the ground outside of the miasma patch and latch onto the creature's tentacles. The creature growled and attempted to wrench itself free, but Yolei continued to strengthen the existing vines while growing new ones to replace the ones torn. Seeing her straining, Madison called upon the Wood card to support her with more vines. The others continued to fire on and divert the creature's attention while it returned fire with eye beams which were blocked by Filia's magical prayers.

Sakura pulled up above the creature to allow Yoh to drop onto it's creature's head. He stabbed his sword downwards repeatedly until he opened a wound in the creature's flesh. The creature screeched in pain and lashed a free tentacle to knock Yoh off of its head. However, it was too little, too late, as the wound was already open and out seeped oily black ooze. Before the creature's regenerative powers closed the cut, Pazuzumon and Silphymon fired blasts of normal and negative energy into it. The blasts worsened the cut, causing the creature to scream in pain and more black blood to spurt out.

Even after all of these attacks, the creature still wasn't ready to face defeat. The creature charged up to fire an immensely powerful beam, the most powerful one it had yet to fire. Suddenly, the creature glowed with a pale blue light. From its expression, the creature was clearly shocked by this effect as it was not expecting it to happen. The once three story monster suddenly shrank until it was no larger than a mere basketball. The creature looked around in horror as it faced the angry glares of its victims, who were many times its height and surrounding it.

Like a cornered beast, the creature decided to fight its way out. It fired a beam at Robin, who was directly in front of it. The beam struck a tongue of flame which extended outwards and consumed the creature. As the flames devoured its body, the powerless monster squealed in terror before being reduced to ash. "I think you overdid it a little, Robin," remarked Amon.

"It really should have just surrendered," said Robin in her defence.

"Hey don't be so down. I would have done the same thing," said Naomi.

"It isn't that serious," dismissed Yolei. "I mean, we nabbed the other two guys without a hitch. We should be able to learn everything we need from them."

"Yeah, that's the spirit Yolei," said Naomi. "Look at the bright side. We probably have a mountain of evidence to get Penhold."

---

After having the authorities secure Price's mansion grounds, the heroes of Valiance returned to the Outlaw Star. "Hey guys, how did it go?" asked Aisha.

"Okay I guess. Who would've thought the guy we were chasing turned out to be a monster," replied Yolei, almost with a hint of comical irreverence.

"A monster?"

"Yep, you heard that right; a monster. A big, giant, eyeball monster," replied Yolei. "We wanted to get him alive, but he continued to attack us even after it was clear he was beaten."

"Ah man, that sucked," remarked Gene. "Well, at least you have the other two guys. Not a bad bust if you ask me. These guys are high up, so if they talk, I'm sure you'll learn something from them."

"Yeah," replied Yolei.

The Outlaw Star returned to Sentinel III space, where the Blue Typhoon was still in orbit. The most advanced ship in the galaxy landed in the capital ship's hangar. Jim was the first to disembark followed by the Valiance heroes, their prisoners, and then the rest of the Outlaw Star crew. "Gene, I'm going to talk to the captain. See ya later." About two hours later, Jim returned from his meeting with the captain of the Blue Typhoon. "Hi Gene, I'm back."

"Yeah, why the hell did it take so long?" asked Gene.

"I was having a long chat with the captain to secure some new clients for our business. Unlike some people, I know the importance of taking advantage of any opportunities that present themselves."

"Yeah, yeah," replied Gene. "So what did he say?"

"Well, he gave me contact information and promised to put in a good word for us. They are in a difficult fight with this terrorist group. They are looking for any experts and specialists that can help them in the front lines or in support."

"Hmm, more work... I'm not complaining," said Gene. "Things have been a little slow lately."

A week later, Folken, Eddie, Jinto, and Lafiel read the reports and conclusions from Ross' interrogations and analysis of the documents captured from Penhold. "If I'll give Omnipotence anything, it's that they're very clever," remarked Folken.

"Hmm... So it seems that Omnipotence funded and built up Penhold to acquire weapons makers like Luo Industries and Positron," remarked Eddie. "They get some other goons to take discarded weapons and pretend to trash them. These guys clean up the weapons, change a few numbers around, and sell them on the black market. Really smooth con game..."

"Well, now with Penhold and all those other companies being investigated, Omnipotence's arms running will come to a screeching halt," concluded Jinto.

"I want to thank you, Eddie and Folken, for all that you've done for us. With your help, I feel that we can turn the tide of the war back home," said Lafiel.

"You're welcome," said Eddie.

"Don't rest on your laurels quite yet," warned Folken. "It seems we can't avoid fighting the Toons any longer, now that we know Omnipotence is with them. They now have control over a new super weapon too. I do have some good news though. We learned of some people who'd be willing to do some jobs for us. They are led by a man named Gene Starwind. They helped Ross in the report we've just read."

"Sure, tell me more about them," requested Eddie.

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
#28 Tenhei, The Leveled Star: Gene Starwind (Outlaw Star)


New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#67 Chimei, The Clear Star: Jim Hawking (Outlaw Star)
#96 Chido, The Serving Star: Melfina (Outlaw Star)
#98 Chiaku, The Fierce Star: Aisha Clan-Clan (Outlaw Star)
#102 Chikei, The Avenging Star: Twilight Suzuka (Outlaw Star)


Spotlight: Outlaw Star


Outlaw Star is a space anime which follows the adventures of the crew of the titular ship. Their leader is Gene Starwind, who runs an odd jobs business with his partner, Jim Hawking. In the course of seeking their fortune, the two acquire their ship, the other members of their crew, as well as a goal, which is to find the Galactic Leyline. Many rumours and fables surround this location in the galaxy, such as it being the hiding spot of fantastic treasures. The anime chronicles the Outlaw Star crew's discovery of the Galactic Leyline and its true purpose.

Origin:
Most of the Outlaw Star crew are, appropriately, outlaws. In the context of the Outlaw Frontier, they are not criminals, but simply independent individuals without strong ties to any government. Most of the crew became outlaws due to a desire for independence, a desire to seek fortune on their own terms. Each has honed their skills through training from Gene's gunplay, to Jim's computer and business knowledge and Suzuka's swordsmanship. Aisha is the exception, being a well off Ctarl-Ctarl with strong ties to her people's government. She was born with her superhuman abilities and is well educated.

Powers:
The Outlaw Frontier has ki as the secondary of its main power types. Those who use ki are rarer than the science that is ubiquitous in this world. Some swordsmen can tap into limited ki for their techniques while "Caster" guns fire ki-enchanted bullets. Ctarl-Ctarl use ki for their transformation into beasts. The most prominent ki users would have to be Tao priests or priestesses. Most of them serve the various pirate groups. Ironically, several of the Kei Pirates have formed their own version of the 108 Stars. However, they are not the true 108 Stars who make up the key players in Valiance.

The most common power type is definitely science in the Outlaw Frontier. The peoples of that world have faster than light engines and have colonized, even terraformed, several planets in the galaxy. They have nuclear fusion as a source of fuel and ship-mounted energy weapons. They also have devices capable of generating energy shields. The Outlaw Frontiersmen even have advanced AI that can run computers like that of the Outlaw Star.